Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) involves capturing the carbon dioxide emitted when burning fossil fuels, transporting it and storing it in secure spaces such as geological formations, including old oil and gas fields and aquifers (natural underground reservoirs) under the seabed.

Fossil fuels will continue to play a significant role in the global energy mix for the foreseeable future. The Government believes that the development and wide-scale deployment of CCS is therefore important for our climate change and security of supply objectives. CCS has the potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel power stations by as much as 90%, and could contribute up to 28% of global carbon dioxide mitigation by 2050.

Latest Developments

30 June 2008

BERR has published the consultation document 'Towards Carbon Capture and Storage'.This consultation seeks views on several aspects of the regulation of Carbon Capture and Storage. Specifically, it consults on aspects of the proposed EU Directive on the Geological Storage of Carbon Dioxide and invites views on the principle of ‘carbon capture readiness’ for combustion plants and the regulation of Carbon Dioxide storage.

Carbon Capture and Storage demonstration competition/consultation: press release

19th March 2008

BERR have co-sponsored a Features, Events and Process (FEP) database on the storage of carbon dioxide with the IEA Greenhouse Gas R + D programme. This FEP database provides a central source of information on the geological storage of carbon dioxide and is a tool to support the assessment of long-term safety and performance of geological carbon dioxide (CO2) storage. The system includes the open-access Generic CO2 Geological Storage FEP Database, which provides a comprehensive knowledge base and includes the potential to host project-specific databases, to which access is restricted. This can be found on the Quintessa: CO2 FEP Database website.

25th February 2008

With issues around regulation of CCS progressing rapidly both within the UK and Europe, BERR held a stakeholder event to update on national and European legislation, and to encourage feedback on these proposals. Speakers included those from the European Commission and the Health and Safety Executive, as well as from BERR. The presentation slides can be viewed below: